Cingular may have improved KIC prepaid coverage, but they've certainly gotten a lot worse in the customer service department.

The refill deadline for my account (with nearly $70 in credits) was 11/10/04. So I logged on to the Web site to refill my account.

I've never refilled online before, since this is a relatively new capability, so I went through the fairly extensive registration process. I selected my refill amount, entered my card details, and submitted. The Web site said that it could take up to an hour for my refill to go through, but confident that I had done everything correctly, I went to bed.

I woke up the next day, and my Cingular account was disconnected. The balance was zero. I contacted Customer Service, who said "Oh, the Web doesn't work sometimes. Just buy another refill." What about my balance? "Oh, that expired. It's gone."

I asked whether there was any way to credit it back, considering the circumstances. "No, your balance is expired." Could I please escalate the issue? "Sure," the representative said, and then hung up on me.

At this point, I was upset, but not furious. Surely a Cingular store would be able to help correct the situation, right? It was not to be. "I can sell you a prepaid refill, but you need to take up your balance with Customer Service. I can't do anything here." I asked if the representative could speak with Customer Service on my behalf. "No, I can't. Sorry, but those are the rules." He also told me that I should have dialed *777 to make sure my refill went through, rather than going to sleep.

This is absurd. I had a considerable balance in my account, and in good faith, I attempted to refill my account before the expiration date. Cingular admitted that there was a problem with Web refills, but in spite of this, I lost my account balance anyway. To get my phone turned back on, I ended up purchasing a traditional refill. I don’t know whether my credit card will eventually be charged for the Web refill. I posted to a Web message board with my experience, and two other users reported recent problems with Web refills. 

In light of my experience, I cannot recommend Cingular KIC to anyone. I really feel sorry for people who work there, because with such customer-hostile policies, I bet there are a lot of hostile customers! I got a couple of friends together and picketed Cingular to see if they'd change their mind, but they did not respond.

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